Goodbye to a House, Not to a Dream…

Goodbye to a House, Not to a Dream...

This time last year our family, especially our kids, were getting excited to spend our second summer at our family beach house on Cape Cod. Growing up south of Boston, summer was and still is all about spending time on the Cape with cousins and family. When you only have a solid three-four months a year of warm weather you make Every. Sunny. Warm. Day. Count. It's no joke.

When I was younger my paternal grandparents had a summer house on the Cape that myself, siblings and oh, just, twenty plus first cousins would cram in to it. Yes you read that right, over 20 first cousins on one side of the family. It was a beautiful weathered shingled cottage, nothing crazy big or overtly fancy which meant all of us kids would squish into it. Some of the most happy, fun and poignant childhood memories go back to these summers with cousins on the Cape. I can relive them in my mind as if they were yesterday. Nights catching fire flies, staying up late watching movies, acting out plays, swinging on the hammock or tree swing, slip and slides, and boating. My Grandpa had an older model boat that we would all pile in to. I guess we have a reputation for needing to squeeze a lot of people into smaller spaces. It's probably that there are just so many of us. To this day if I hear Rod Stewart "Rhythm Of My Heart" on the radio, I'm instantly transported back to my Grandfather's boat with all my cousins, pounding over waves, sea salt and wind blowing through our hair and praying that the boat would make it back to the yacht club. "When the ocean meets the sky I'll be sailing... "

Sadly my Grandpa passed on years ago but our family traditions live on. Those twenty plus cousins are now grown and have families of their own. Time for a new generation to experience summer living on Cape Cod. It's where quintessential childhood dreams are made.

Three years ago my Dad found buildable land on the Cape and it was his (and my mom's) opportunity to carve a little spot of New England heaven out for themselves. My parents decided to sell their modest house outside Boston and build their DREAM HOUSE on the Cape. Imagine my excitement, the stay at home mom with two young kids and many futures summers with them in tow, I was PUMPED!!! And also completely on board with their game plan! Obviously. Not to mention the thought of getting to help in the process of building a home and choosing all the decor, etc. I was pumped X2.

Griffin supervising.

This was our beach house being built in 2014. We spent our first summer here in 2015.

This was our house last summer... our second year. In a short time we had quite a bit of parties, laughs and crazy nights here. The kids were in their glory! Even though it's a bigger house, much bigger than that little cottage I went to as a kid, we still managed to cram so many people in here one weekend that some peeps had to sleep in the basement on blow up mattresses. The basement wasn't even finished!

As much as I love decorating and beautiful interiors there is so much more to a house than those four walls. It's about the people that coexist within those walls even if for only 3 months out of the year. The adventures, laughs, probably even arguments and compromises they make. It is those childhood moments that evolve into the memories that weave into our adult lives. Being surrounded by family under one roof is where a house turns into a home.

So all is good right, we sail off into the sunset? Well, brace yourself for an unexpected turn. My parents decided to sell this house this past winter! Cue the sad background music. We couldn't believe it either. It was a little hard to let go of this beautiful spot. Turns out my parents have a new lot of land to build on. YAY! The adventure begins again. We will start construction in the next few weeks and I'm so excited to help even more this go around.

We may not have our family beach house this summer (I know poor us, well kind of) but next year! After all it is a place to gather as a family, for our kids and someday god willing their kids... From the new lot of land, to the the walls going up, fixture choices, wall colors, furniture and more...I'm going to share it all here on the blog. I'll be sharing some sneak peeks of the new house design next, plus photos of the land all cleared. I hope you'll stay tuned, as I share with you our Dream House Part II

Thanks for stopping by!

Jordan

I've already started finding lots of coastal farmhouse inspiration. Follow me over on Pinterest to see!